


The World is Cruel

by spirited_sprite



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Bottom Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Character Death, Dominant Eren Yeager, Eventual Smut, M/M, Manga & Anime, Minor Levi/Petra Ral, POV Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Slow Build, Story within a Story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 10:24:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9119536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spirited_sprite/pseuds/spirited_sprite
Summary: Petra is good friends with Levi Ackerman, but he isn't one to have fun or show emotion. According to their friends he used to be, before the accident happened and he lost the biggest thing in his life, his love.





	1. The Party

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first fanfic on ao3, I also have it posted on wattpad as Jayyalian, so you can check it out there. I had this idea late at night so if it's terrible I'm sorry. I will probably be updating frequently as I already have 3 chapters done and working on the fourth and I really like this concept and the story, hopefully you guys will too. Anyways, enjoy!!

Petra's POV

"Honestly you need to cheer up some more Levi, you aren't going to have any fun." I turned to look at him sitting on his chair drinking tea. I mean, of course it's tea, he barely drinks anything else. "I told you I'm not going. I won't get in your car, and I won't go to Hanji's party. How many times to do I have to tell you?"

He got up from his chair with an annoyed expression on his face and walked to the kitchen to refill his cup. I got up from my spot on the couch and followed him. "We can walk there, it really will be fun, please. You haven't gone to a party -or gotten into a car for that matter- since I met you. There won't be any drinking and-"

The angered tone of his voice startled me as he spoke. "I'm not telling you again Petra, there is absolutely no way in hell that I am stepping outside of my apartment tonight to go to a party with you or anyone else, and if you bring it up again I will force you to leave!" He slammed his cup on the counter, spilling tea everywhere. Without bothering to clean it up, he walked out of the kitchen and into his room in a huff.

I sat back on his couch and thought about what to do. I could ask him again, which would probably be the worst option, or I could just tell him I'm going to the party by myself anyway. I just don't understand what he always gets so worked up about and what his deal is. I mean, are parties and cars really that bad? I got up and walked to his room and quietly knocked on his door. "Levi, I'm gonna go, okay? I'll let everyone know you don't want to come." In response, I heard a mumble that I couldn't really make out. "Levi?"

"I said okay." He snapped loudly and I backed away and reluctantly left his apartment.

On the way to Hanji's place I called her and she picked up on about the fourth ring. "Hey, did you get him to come?" Her voice was a bit muffled from the loudness in the background. "No...he got really mad and stopped talking about it."

"Yeah, I figured as much. He doesn't like to do much since the accident happened. Shit, I'm sorry, Levi hasn't told you about it yet has he? Just forget I said anything." I heard the slight panic in her voice.

I've heard of the accident before, with Hanji and Isabel sometimes letting it slip, but they never told me what it was and I doubt they ever will. Whenever I ask about it they always respond with 'It's not our place to say' and 'Levi should be the one to tell you when he's ready.' Which I highly doubt he ever will be.

"It's okay Hanj, I don't expect you to tell me anything." It came out a lot harsher than I expected but before I had time to correct myself she spoke again.

"I really am sorry I keep bringing it up Petra, it's just force of habit y'know? It's hard to forget how Levi used to be." Her voice trailed off and I could tell she was thinking about him. Feeling bad, I just told her I'll be there in about 5 minutes and hung up the phone.

Honestly, I don't think I've ever been this curious about anything in my life. I would have loved to know Levi before the 'accident' as I've been told he really was an amazing person. Well, apparently he hasn't changed an extreme amount but enough for people to miss the old him. He used to tease on his friends in a friendly way and make shit jokes a lot, and his sarcasm was, and I quote, "On point" as Hanji has told me many times. Funny thing is, I've never actually seen or heard him really laugh. Well, I've heard him chuckle a little and the very rare small smile on his lips but the sound of his real laugh will remain a complete mystery to me.

I got pulled out of my thoughts when I turned onto Hanji's street and parked my car as close as I could to her house, but apparently she invited the whole gang, as there were cars all down the street and the closest I could park was about 4 houses away.

I got out of my car and started walking to her house, the cool night breeze making me wish I brought a sweater. I could hear the loud music playing from where I was and now I definitely started to feel bad for Hanji's neighbors, I doubt they'll be able to sleep very well tonight.

Before I could even knock on the door, it opened and a familiar face with glasses pulled me in quickly and squeezed me extremely hard. "Hanji..I...can't breathe." She let go of me but not before giving me one last squeeze leaving my ribs to hurt.

"Oh! Sorry about that, I'm just excited and all!" She bounced away into the other room and I laughed, taking off my shoes and following her in.

I went to grab a drink when Hanji told us all to get into the living room, and when I walked in and sat down on the couch, I was able to see everyone in our quite large friend group was here. Mikasa and Armin were sitting next to each other on the love seat talking about their work and I could see Jean sitting on the floor next to Marco. On the recliner, Ymir was sitting with Krista on her lap, and standing beside them was Sasha, and Connie was feeding her a potato chip. After a few seconds, we all just waited for Hanji to get on with whatever she was planning. Isabel sat beside me on the big couch and Farlan was beside her. Hanji sat up from her spot on the other side of me and started jumping around and counting everyone.

"1...2...5...7...11. There should be twelve not including me." She pushed her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose and then put her hands on her hips. "ERWIN!! GET YOUR FINE ASS INTO THE LIVING ROOM RIGHT NOW!" She bellowed and we all laughed.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, calm yourself." Erwin was holding a chair over his head as he walked into the room and plopped it down beside the couch Mikasa and Armin were sitting on.

"Now that we are all here, I have a little game I want us all to play." She pulled a game box from under the coffee table and held it up for everyone to see.

"It is...CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY!" I heard a few groans from the people around but Sasha ran over to Hanji and gave her a bunch of high fives and whooped loudly.

"Now, are you all ready to see how dirty we can get?" She wiggled her eyebrows as the people who were groaning started to smile and I could tell they were looking forward to the rest of the night.


	2. I get it now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! Hope you liked the last chapter and like this one. I'll hopefully be updating every excluding tomorrow as I'm busy. Anyways, enough notes, let's get on with the chapter!

Petra's POV

After the game was over we were all pretty exhausted, and that's when I decided to ask the question I probably shouldn't have.

I turned to Hanji who was sitting beside me still recovering from the intense laughter attack and tapped her on the shoulder. She threw her arms around me and spoke loudly, probably damaging my ear in the process.

"What's up, Petra?!" She had a huge smile on her face and a couple people turned to look at why she was loud but them smiled and continued doing what they were doing.

I took a breath as I was a bit worried about what her reaction would be to the question. "Um...W-why is Levi...well, so down all the time? Why did he change?" As soon as I finished my question I realized I probably shouldn't have asked, but it was already to late.

Hanji let go of me and her smile turned into a frown which doesn't happen often. I heard a couple of gasps and noticed the entire room went quiet. Armin had a sad look on his face and Jean had zoned out. Isabel shook her head a little and Mikasa brought her legs up to her chest, shaking a bit like she was thinking of something she didn't want to remember.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, I-"

"It's okay. It's just, a hard subject to talk about, but I guess we could tell you some of it. I mean, you are one of Levi's good friends." Hanji sat more comfortably on the couch and got into more of a serious tone.

"It was about last year you see, when they met. I didn't expect everything to end the way it did though. None of us did." Her voice was quivering a bit.

"His name was Eren. He was my brother." Mikasa had looked at me with a sad expression and her face was flushed. Armin spoke next, "He was my best friend. We did everything together, and nothing could separate us. That is until he met Levi." He laughed a bit and smiled sadly.

"We hated each other" I heard a chuckle from Jean. "We'd call each other names all the time. Horseface and the Angry German kid. I could never forget it."

The more I looked around the more I saw how much Eren meant to all these people and I had already figured out the worst. But someone I wasn't expecting to speak next said something that made my heart break.

"I had never seen him so happy before. He would smile and laugh whenever he was with Eren. And you know how Levi is. You could see the love in their eyes whenever they looked at each other and could tell that it was meant to be. I've known Levi my whole life and never once did I see him be as happy as he was when he was with the kid. He meant so much to him, and he still does." I could see tears forming in Isabel's as she spoke and she wiped her eyes.

"Eren was the best brother I could ask for. He was kind and gentle, and he cared about his friends more than anything else in the world. He loved all of us and we all loved him. But he was different with Levi, he loved him differently and on an entirely new level. They were so different but so perfect at the same time. What happened hurt us all, but Levi changed. And he'll never be the same. None of us will. Excuse me." Mikasa was crying hard now, and I instantly regretted asking about it, I never imagined it would cause this much pain.

She got up from her seat and walked into the kitchen, Armin following her close behind. Hanji turned to me and smiled a bit.

"Don't feel bad for asking, I just would suggest not bringing Eren up to Levi. He doesn't take it very well." I gave her a small nod, still sensing the tension in the room.

"I guess I'll go now then, thank you very much for inviting me. And I am sorry." I gave Hanji a small hug and left before she could say anything else and ran to my car. I turned on the engine and set my destination for Levi's place, thinking of a way to apologize for how terrible I've been to him about everything.

When I got out of the car I knocked on the door and heard a faint "Come in." I walked into the living room and saw Levi sitting on the couch reading a book. I sat down next to him and sighed softly.

"How was the party?" He asked, even thought I knew he didn't actually care.

"It was fun for the most part. It got a bit depressing before I left though." I eyed him carefully but no emotion was shown. I was about to say something else when I heard his phone ring. He put the book down and went to his room to grab it.

I looked at the book he was reading and saw it was extremely worn, but there was no cover flap so I couldn't tell what it was called. I picked it up and realized that it was a journal and not a novel at all. I flipped through a couple of pages and noticed it wasn't Levi's writing but someone else's. On the inside cover I noticed there was some writing.

Eren Yeager,

I'm terrible with gifts so have this. I don't expect you to write in it, but keep it safe, brat.

Yours,

Levi

There was a doodle of a heart wrapped in vines underneath the message and I realized it must have been Eren's journal. I put it down and felt terrible for invading Levi's personal things. It was a good thing I put it down when I did, as Levi walked out of his room with his phone in hand and his eyes the slightest bit red.

"Did you look at it?" He wasn't mad, but I couldn't tell anything else he was feeling. I slowly nodded my head and apologized. He sighed and sat down on the couch beside me lifting his feet up and bending his legs. "It was his. Eren's. Hanji just called and told me what happened and gave me some advice." I was worried he was going to tell me to leave, and that I was too nosy and not worth it, but he said to me something I wasn't expecting.

"Get comfortable, because this might take awhile. She told me to tell you what happened, and I might as well start from the beginning."

I breathed out in relief but also felt sad. I wasn't sure why, perhaps it was because I knew what he was about to tell me wouldn't have a happy ending.


End file.
